It’s called “Springboard” and was “erected” in July last year to reduce the worryingly high number of long-term unemployed in Austria. The pandemic had contributed to the fact that there were almost 150,000 long-term unemployed at the time. That was almost twice as many as before the crisis.
“The program works,” said Labor Minister Martin Kocher yesterday, who has so far endowed the “springboard” with around 270 million euros. The subsidy runs until the end of the year and is aimed at companies that initially receive a refund of part of their wage costs if they hire long-term unemployed people. Non-profit employment projects and socio-economic companies are also supported.
42 percent of the funded “Springboard” participants had previously been unemployed for two years or more. One in three was also older than 50 years. 30 percent had a health condition, which is a particular handicap when looking for work.
According to the Labor Ministry, the “Springboard” program contributed to the fact that there were 64,228 fewer long-term unemployed in July this year than there were 148,436 a year ago. A total of 84,208 people were long-term unemployed in Austria at the end of July this year, meaning they had been looking for work for more than a year. This is the lowest level in eight years. In Vienna, since the start of the program, a particularly large number of long-term unemployed have been placed with 18,000 subsidized jobs.
Yesterday, for example, the following funding mode was found on the homepage of the AMS Lower Austria under “Springboard”: Companies that hire people who have been unemployed for more than two years receive a refund of 100 percent of the gross wage plus half of the ancillary wage costs for three months. According to this, female employees receive a two-thirds subsidy for five months, and 40 percent subsidy for one month for men. Political parties, their clubs and “radical associations” are not eligible for funding. (haas)
Source: Nachrichten
